1:28 just hurts so much that it doesn't even feel like this character is fictional. like i distinctly felt a snap inside me when I watched this the first time. People are mad but I'm almost in awe of the writers ability to telegraph a character's depth and eventual progression so well in S1 and deliver beyond my wildest expectations in season 2.
Israel Hands did live, and was Blackbeard's first mate. It's just that he died when he was 19. Blackbeard died when he was 39, and his beard was still very black. So yeah, fictionalized, but based on real people.
Roads to Moscow is worth looking up - it is here on RU-vid, a fantastic song with a lot of depth. It references the life of Alexander Solzhenitsyn and the experience of Russian soldiers, some of whom came back after 4 years of fighting the Germans only to be sent to the gulag by their own government for suspected collaboration. Heartbreaking song
